The 27-year-old Nelson, picked ninth overall in the 2004 amateur draft, made 19 starts at third base for Colorado this season and batted .242 with no homers, four RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. He was designated for assignment Sunday when the Rockies called up top prospect Nolan Arenado from the minors.

In 2012, he batted .301 with nine homers and 53 RBIs in 111 games for Colorado.

“We feel that a right-handed bat will help us. We’re pretty left-handed right now,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s going to get a chance to play at some point.”

New York is off Thursday before opening a three-game series against Oakland on Friday night.

Nelson has played 139 major league games at third base, 54 at second and three at shortstop.

When the Yankees placed Youkilis on the 15-day DL with a back injury Tuesday, retroactive to April 28, they recalled infielder Corban Joseph from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre because he is on the 40-man roster.

The 24-year-old Joseph had no big league experience. He was selected by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 2008 amateur draft out of Franklin High School in Tennessee.

Joseph played mostly second base and some first in the minors this season. He had an unimpressive stint at third base during spring training.

General manager Brian Cashman would have preferred to call up David Adams, but he was released during spring training and then re-signed, so he is ineligible to be called up until May 15.